14 whooping cranes released in Vermilion Parish waters

14 young cranes released in Vermilion

Photo provided by Department of Wildlife and Fisheries -- One of the 14 whooping cranes is cared for after its arrival to the White Lake Wetlands Conservation Area.

Photo provided by Department of Wildlife and Fisheries -- Whooping cranes arrived at the White Lake Wetlands Conservation Area on Thursday.

GUEYDAN — Fourteen young whooping cranes arrived in Vermilion Parish this week in an ongoing project to bring the endangered bird back to the marshes of south Louisiana.

The cranes, raised at facilities in Maryland and Wisconsin, were delivered Thursday to their new home at the White Lake Wetlands Conservation Area near Gueydan, the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries announced Friday.

Whooping cranes disappeared from the Louisiana landscape by 1950, the victim of habitat loss and hunting.